How Do You Manipulate a Memory?
How Do You Manipulate a Memory?
How Do You Manipulate a Memory?
Memory manipulation: is it more science fiction or science fact? Steve Ramirez, a Boston University College of Arts & Sciences assistant professor of psychological and brain sciences, believes it’s moving away from the former and closer to the latter.
Inside his lab at BU’s Rajen Kilachand Center for Integrated Life Sciences & Engineering, Ramirez (CAS’10) and his team are doing research on a small structure in the brain that they believe holds the key to future therapeutic techniques for treating depression, anxiety, and PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder). They envision that someday their research might give clinicians the ability to selectively enhance positive memories or suppress negative ones as a form of treatment.
In this video, Ramirez, winner of a 2019 Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, breaks down how specific memories can be identified in the brain, and how we might be able to dial up or dial down their emotional oomph in the future.
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